An important part of helping a child learn to read is for a teacher, a parent, or other skilled reader to read a story to the child. It is known that the child is aided in learning to read by following along with the words as the skilled reader reads them, especially when the skilled reader points to each word as it is read. In this manner, the child learns to read words by associating the appearance or spelling of each word with the spoken sound of the word. Such recognizing of entire words may be assisted by associated pictures representing one or more of the words.
A child also reads words by learning phonemes, which are the sounds of letters and combinations of letters. Knowing phonemes, the child may then sound out words phonetically, one phoneme at a time, in order to read each word. As the child begins to learn how to recognize or sound out simple words, the learning is reinforced by the child's reading aloud as the skilled reader listens and helps the child, praising the successful sounding-out and word recognition and guiding the child through difficulties.
Some children quickly learn to read and these children generally enjoy the experience of shared reading with a skilled reader and easily progress from simple sounds and words to complex reading. Other children struggle to learn reading even when the skilled reader shares the reading with the child, and the child may develop an aversion to books due to a high level of frustration experienced with books. For the struggling child reader, it is crucial that experiences with reading be as enjoyable as possible. Nevertheless, both types of children can be aided in learning to read by reading together with a skilled reader.
Currently existing books are not designed to optimize the learning potential of shared reading between skilled and novice readers. Books are written with a single text providing a story. The text is at a single reading level for either a skilled reader or a novice reader to read, but it is not designed for both to read. A slightly different approach is provided by a series of books published by Ladybird Books which includes a text for a skilled reader to read to a child. The books also provide a series of pictures, each with an associated excerpt taken verbatim from the skilled reader's text. After reading the book through once, the skilled reader is instructed to review the pictures and excerpts with the child and help the child to attempt to read the excerpts, which, of course, the child has just been read in the context of the skilled reader's reading. However, this scheme does not truly provide for a shared experience between the skilled reader and the child in reading the story, because they do not read the story together. The skilled reader reads the entire book solo and thereafter the child is given an opportunity to read solo. The child's reading portions contribute nothing additional to the story, but, instead are just repeats of the skilled reader's portions. A need exists for a book that provides for encouragement and facilitation to the child to learn reading in a experience with a skilled reader.